Touchpanel Assessment of Psychomotor Abilities

Abstract

Innovations in touch-sensitive computer monitors as a methodology for relatively low-cost, highly-flexible test development, validation, and application of standard psychomotor tests are presented. The development and evaluation of five psychomotor test types are described including discrete response tests (Choice/Simple Reaction Time, Serial Reaction Time, and Tapping) and continuous-response tests (Maze Tracing and Mirror Tracing). Two empirical studies of the new psychomotor tests are reviewed, with a collection of perceptual speed abilities providing evidence for construct validity. In addition, the psychomotor tests are validated against a real-time simulation criterion (the Kanfer-Ackerman Air Traffic Controller Task. We discuss how these new innovations remove logistic barriers to efficient assessment of critically important abilities for predicting skilled performance.

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